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Little Canada woman charged for alleged New Year’s Day stabbing of husband

A Little Canada woman was charged with first-degree assault-great bodily harm for an alleged New Year’s Day stabbing of her husband during an argument in which she accused him of being unfaithful.

The husband, a 35-year-old man, was stabbed in the stomach and his intestines were outside his body as observed by police and doctors, according to court documents.

Denea Chiquita Griffo, 39, was charged Jan. 3 in Ramsey County District Court. The maximum penalty for first degree assault-great bodily harm is 20 years, a $30,000 fine, or both.

According to court documents, deputies, who’d been called by the husband following the stabbing, encountered the man outside the couple’s apartment in the 400 block of Labore Road around 11:30 p.m. Jan. 1.

Blood was flowing out of him from an apparent stab wound, and the deputies “saw he was holding some of his own intestines in his hand,” as stated in court documents.

Deputies performed first aid on the man, an ambulance arrived and he was taken to the Regions Hospital emergency room where hospital staff said he’d suffered from “significant small bowel laceration” due to being stabbed, according to court documents. The man was interviewed by hospital staff.

Deputies found the couple’s apartment and arrested Griffo. According to court documents, Griffo told police her husband had been out that evening, and she called him nine times but he did not answer; at some point his phone picked up while in his pocket and Griffo thought she’d heard a woman’s voice, leading her to think the man was cheating on her.

The man told investigators he was out with friends and Griffo called so many times he decided to go home. They talked on the phone as he went, with Griffo accusing him of infidelity. Upon his arrival at the apartment, the two argued for what Griffo said was about three minutes, until the man hit her in the face, as both told police, according to court documents.

Griffo told police she blacked out after she was hit; the man said she allegedly went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. Court documents say the man told police she swung the knife at his neck twice, but he dodged it. A third swing cut him in the stomach, he said.

The man told police Griffo allegedly went to swing the knife at him again, but his intestines were already coming out of his wound. Court documents say the man ran downstairs from the apartment, holding his intestines in one hand and his phone in another. He called 911.

Griffo allegedly told police she doesn’t remember the stabbing. Court documents say she said a substance seen on her white shirt after the stabbing, which deputies thought was blood, was from Doritos she was eating because she had an upset stomach.

In 2016, Griffo was sentenced to a year of probation after being convicted of disorderly conduct for a March 9, 2016, incident for which she was also charged with misdemeanor domestic assault and fifth-degree assault. Those charges were dismissed.

Griffo is being held on $200,000 bail. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 17.